Trail of Ashes
by January Skies
Summary: Even the brightest flame can be smothered in its own ashes. TMR/HP Slash
1. Prologue

Warning: Rated M for a reason. Will contain slash, incest, violence, and mature themes.

Main pairing is Tom Riddle / Harry Potter

Currently I have no beta, so please if you see any missing/misspelled words or butchered sentences please inform me.

Trail of Ashes

Prologue

_The Ashwinder is a serpent that is created from the remains of any magical fire that is allowed to burn unchecked. The serpent is thin and pale-grey with glowing red eyes. They rise from the embers of the dying fire and slither off into a dark corner to lay their eggs, leaving an ashy trail behind. Ashwinders only live for an hour and will collapse to dust when they have laid their eggs. - _Newt Scamander, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Harry did not have a happy life.

A small boy for his age, stunted by malnutrition and an already petite form, he was an easy target for bullies. (_Eight you say? He couldn't be more than six…)_ His baggy worn clothes stuck out among the neater dressed children and his messy hair led many adults to label him as uncaring of his appearance. (_Scruffy, disgusting child!_) His glasses, which were taped in more than one place, hid his pretty green eyes, which were his biggest asset. _(Oh dear, you have such pretty eyes!)_

Young Harry was also very shy, another reason to be teased. _(Why ya' so quiet? Are ya' stupid?) _He faded into the background so quickly that adults never took notice of his intelligence or polite speech. _(Oh! I didn't see you, dear!) _He was just another face in a wash of children clamoring among the desks and playground.

Harry didn't want to be noticed.

Once, when he'd been younger and not quite so understanding of his unique situation he had clamored among his peers begging to be noticed. _(Look what I can do!)_ For someone to give him the attention he craved, that he had seen but never felt. _(I'm not a freak, I swear!)_

But he had paid the price for being noticed, and it had not been a good one. _(What did you do boy!)_

Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon did not want Harry to be noticed. They did not want people sniffing around asking questions, or telling them how to take care of their nephew. _ (Get in the cupboard! Now boy!) _So Harry tried to draw as little attention to himself as he could. More often than not, his plans were foiled by his cousin, who like many of the children on the playground did notice how strange Harry seemed to be. _(We are goin' ta call it Harry-Hunting!)_

It was most often around his cousin that the Strange Things happened. Unexplainable things that often angered his uncle and aunt and drew unwanted attention on their family, like the time Harry disappeared during a chase _(get him!) _and ended up on the roof of the school. _(I'll beat the freakishness out of you, boy!)_

It was on his cousin's ninth birthday that one of those particular Strange Things set off a series of events that changed young Harry's life.

Harry was in the backyard doing his daily chores _(Get out! We can't have you here where the neighbors can see you!) _while he waited for Mrs. Figg, his babysitter for the day, to arrive to pick him up. She was running late, and Petunia was convinced he had done it on purpose in order to ruin her precious Duddeykin's birthday.

Harry was sitting in the shade of the tree resting when a scream sounded from within the house. Jumping up from his spot, he was surprised when a rush of screeching children ran out from the back door. The next second he saw why, a medium sized snake was making its way outside looking rather pleased with its escape.

At first Harry merely stayed by the tree, trying to stay invisible to the frightened party goers, he did not want Vernon to punish him later for drawing attention to himself. That was until Harry noticed an unusual thing about the snake's hisses. It sounded a lot like laughter…

_*Stupid humans, get out of my way! I'm trying to leave and you are in the way!*_

The laughter had turned into annoyed hissing and then to angry. Not sure why he understood the snake_ (You freak!)_, but realizing that he may be able to help before his uncle and aunt decided to hurt it, he walked closer and hissed in return.

_*I can help you leave.*_

The snake reared back and hissed in surprise. Many of the children had filtered into the front yard but the few remaining stragglers gasped, shocked and scared at the sight of the small boy hissing back. It was at that moment that Vernon and Petunia (armed to kill the retched snake with a shovel and a frying pan) came out into the yard. Just in time to see their dear nephew hiss.

_*Come, I will show you how to get out.*_

_*If you say so speaker, I shall follow.*_

Harry took a step back ready to lead the snake out and away from Privet Drive when the shovel cut through the docile snake's neck.

"What do you think you're doing boy!" Vernon was not a happy man.

Many things in Vernon Dursley's life had gone from perfect to rotten in the years since Harry had been left on his doorstep. He had been happy in his marriage to Petunia; she had borne him a healthy son and seemed pleased to be a housewife. His home was perfect and lovely, in the suburbia of Little Whinging. Everything had been beautiful, until the moment he had awoken to Petunia's shocked screams.

That boy had ruined his perfect life and Vernon hated him for it. Petunia was not as happy as a house wife as she had once been, she nagged at him about money and snipped whenever he mentioned his sister Marge was coming to visit. She complained about how few friends she had and how awful the neighbors were. Dudley often caused trouble at school and he had to apologize several times to parents in the neighborhood for his son's abrasive nature. He had not gotten a promotion at Grunnings in years and he hated his coworkers. Life was not as perfect as it should have been.

The party goers were shooed away and Dudley was sent to Pier's house to play with his friends and all the while Vernon's face remained a vivid shade of red. No, Vernon was not a happy man, and it was all _that boy's fault._

Vernon drug him into the house pulling him past the brightly decorated kitchen into the living room, his grip tight enough to leave bruises on Harry's arm.

"How could you do this to us? After all we did for you!" Petunia's screeches had reached unheard highs, and Harry absently wondered if the glasses would shatter.

"We gave you shelter, fed you, from the goodness of our hearts and this is how you repay us!" Vernon shook him and Harry's heart rate spiked. His uncle was angrier than the young boy could ever remember him being.

Harry was very scared. His breathing turned shallow and he wondered if Vernon would actually beat him this time.

"Answer us boy! You did this on purpose didn't you? Answer me!" Vernon gave him another hard shake to emphasize his point.

"N-no, sir." The answer was shaky and breathless, hardly above a whisper.

"Lies! All lies! Well I'm tired of your freakishness boy! I'm not going to stand for it anymore! If you are going to stand there and disrespect me, I'll make sure you never speak another lie to my face again!" Vernon's meaty hands wrapped around the fragile throat of Harry's eight _(I'm almost nine!) _year old throat.

Little fingers clawed at him but Vernon felt nothing but anger. Small fists pounded his back begging him to stop before he went too far, but he was deaf to anything but his own thoughts. Vernon was not a happy man.

White spots flooded his vision, his mouth gasping trying to find the air that should have easily flowed through his windpipe. He clawed at the hands holding him and the face above him but nothing helped. He struggled but no Strange Things happened to make Uncle Vernon stop or disappear. It became harder and harder to lift his arms, to even stay awake, until slowly Harry slipped into unconsciousness.

Petunia screamed and cried and begged but Vernon did not let go. She grabbed his hands and tried to pry them off but she was weak from her complacency. Finally she collapsed next to her husband and watched as her nephew slowly stopped showing signs of struggling or moving and simply lay still. The only movement was the slight jerk of his body when Vernon shook him, muttering angrily, "This is all your fault boy. All your fault!"

Sobs ripped through her and for the first time in her life, Petunia truly regretted her actions. _(I said I was sorry!)_

"Vernon, Vernon! S-stop! Please, oh please stop!"

Eventually, when the door opened and Dudley called out that he was home, Petunia would stand up and make her way to the phone. She would quietly tell Dudley to go up to his room, snapping at him when he complained, relieved when he complied. She would call the police and tell them in monotone that she was pretty sure her husband had strangled her eight year old nephew.

Harry's life was unhappy and tragically short.


	2. Chapter 1 : Confusion

Warning: Rated M for a reason. Will contain slash, incest, violence, and mature themes.

Main pairing is Tom Riddle / Harry Potter

If there is any butchered sentences or misspelled/misused words please tell me.

Trail of Ashes

Chapter 1

At first the darkness and sensory deprivation panicked young Harry, until memories of the cupboard and the safety it brought reminded him that darkness wasn't something to be afraid of. It welcomed him in a way the Dursleys never had; in was a comfort and familiarity. For a long while it was only darkness until slowly feeling of fingers and toes and the sheets and awareness came. And with awareness came panic, the young boy did not want to wake up and face the horror of the Dursleys again (though why this bothered him more than usual he could not recall). He wanted to be safe in his cupboard forever, in the darkness. His panic brought awareness to his pounding heart and the unpleasant tingling of blood in areas where it hadn't moved properly through in a long while.

Sounds came soon after the rustling of clothing and the sounds of shoes behind closed doors. Wherever he was, he realized it wasn't his cupboard; too many people. Instead of relief or comfort it only panicked the small boy more; he'd broken the rules and been noticed. Surely the Dursleys would abandon him to those horrible orphanages they talked about or the streets of London as Uncle Vernon had once threatened. Harry became aware of how short of breath he was, inhaling and exhaling too quickly, his lungs expanding and contracting almost painfully. He was in so much trouble.

And then the doors opened and briefly the sounds of people amplified before becoming muffled again, hurried footsteps, murmured words then a calm feeling seemed to wash over him. Soon the door was being opened again and Harry began wishing he could open his eyes but no matter how much he tried his eyelids remained too heavy. Where could he be? A hospital perhaps, but Aunt Petunia had told him that hospitals didn't treat freaks like him... Where were the Dursleys?

"What is his status, Healer Lowsley?"

"It appears as if he is attempting to waken, sir!"

"Waken? But he was completely comatose last week, Warden Davis announced him a lost cause! Has there been an indication how this could have happened?"

"Nothing that I have been able to discern from the diagnostic spells, sir. When I came in, however; he appeared to be having a serious panic attack."

Harry was confused, not understanding quite what was going on and how he had ended up in such a strange place. Healer, comatose, warden, spells? Whatever Lowsley had done to calm him down kept him from panicking all over again as he surely would have. The two continued their conversation briefly before Harry began to feel too tired to concentrate and began drifting off back into the welcoming darkness once more.

The next time Harry regained consciousness his head felt much clearer and was able to open his eyes without much trouble. Before he promptly scrunched them shut once again at the glaringly bright room. His eyes watered and he blinked a couple times before he could really see anything, which once he could didn't seem like it had been worth the effort. The room he was in was almost completely empty and white. The only thing of note being the wood bedside table and the white curtains on the left side of his bed that were probably blocking sight of the door.

It was not but a second after Harry's examination of the room was complete that he heard the door opening and closing before the strangest looking person he'd ever seen in his short life bustled over to his bedside. The stranger was dressed in some kind of flowing suit dress? Harry wondered if perhaps the Dursleys had indeed abandoned him in one of the weird freak places they talked about sometimes (an asylum perhaps). And then the young male looked up from the clipboard he was holding and yelped. Harry jumped and immediately scooted back as far as the bed would allow from the strange man.

"Oh Merlin! You gave me a fright, you aren't supposed to be awake until at least next week!" The strange man looked almost like he expected Harry to be happy about this, but it only made him frown and attempt to scoot farther away. The man blinked in slight confusion before approaching the bed again, and taking out a small stick. "Well either way, I must perform some tests to make sure you are healthy and recovering Mr. Malfoy so if you could come back we can begin!"

Harry frowned, not wanting this weird man to come any closer but also confused as to who this Malfoy person was. "Who?" The sound that came out was raspy and dry from disuse and made both the Healer and young boy frown. Misunderstanding the question he smiled in an attempt to be more welcoming and introduced himself.

"I'm Healer Lowsley and I've been your assigned Healer until Warden Davis can attend you properly later this evening. Now how about you come and sit on the edge of the bed facing the curtain and we can begin the diagnostic spells and afterwards we can get you some food, I'm sure you are feeling a bit hungry Mr. Malfoy." Lowsley took a step forward and Harry immediately shrunk back as much as the small space would allow. Frowning Lowsley took a step back and watched the young boy relax a little bit, "Is there something wrong Mr. Malfoy?"

Confused and feeling panic bubbling deep in his stomach Harry answered quietly, "Who is Mr. Malfoy? And what is a di-dinostuck spell? And where am I?"

Worry clouded over Lowsley face as he realized the young boy had no idea who or where he was. Frowning at the unexpected effects of the coma Lowsley immediately took another step back, realizing that he friendly demeanor and familiarity had probably thrown off the confused boy. "It seems that there have been some very serious side-effects to your accident Mr. Malfoy, I will get you some food and then I will find Warden Davis and hopefully he can help us with this unfortunate effect. You are currently staying in the private Malfoy ward in St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries and have been here for some time. I will get you some food and then we shall solve this problem for you, Mr. Malfoy. I will be right back."

Harry relaxed slightly when the door closed but felt more confused than ever. Magical what? And what accident? The man obviously was confused about just who he was treating because Harry had never heard the name Malfoy in his life. Or this St. Mungos place, or about any of this really since Harry had awoken here. The door opened again, however, instead of Lowsley and woman entered carrying a tray of food and with a wide happy smile on her face. Her dress was white the same as Lowsley but looked less suit like a more like a proper dress. She grinned and set the tray down on the side table, "Oh I'm so happy to see you awake young Master Malfoy! Lady Malfoy will be so happy, shes been just so torn up since your accident!" And with a jolly wave the woman left, leaving a blinking Harry. Glancing at the food he grimaced, it looked like some kind of lumpy porridge. He wondered briefly if they would try to poison him, but it seemed they didn't even know who he was. But unlike Lowsley had assumed he wasn't even a bit peckish so he turned away from the lumpy grey blob and thought about what the woman, presumably a nurse because where else could he be but a hospital with this talk about an accident of some sort, had said about a Lady Malfoy. Young Master Malfoy? Was this bloke some sort of Lord? He hoped that he wouldn't get in trouble when they realized he wasn't who they thought he was. And what was this about spells, he was pretty sure Lowsley had said spell multiple times. Sounded like the kind of thing Uncle Vernon would beat him for; magic didn't exist after all.

The door opened some minutes later and Lowsley followed by an older grey haired man bustled in past the curtain. Lowsley looked stressed, wringing his hands while the other man, was frowning in a rather intimidating manner that made Harry's stomach drop; he was definitely in trouble. The older man stepped forward, and Harry automatically scooted back. Besides a slight flash in his eyes of some foreign emotion the stern man ignored the reaction and sat at the very edge of the bed.

"Healer Lowsley has told me you are confused about a couple things, I'm Warden Davis your assigned family Healer and Head of Malfoy affairs at St. Mungos, if you could clarify what the confusion is about perhaps we can clear them up for you, young man." His voice was just as stern as his appearance but something in it reminded Harry of a teacher he had who'd been stern but always fair, never treating him as a freak. Knowing that if he lied he would probably get in trouble later for it, but not wanting to get in trouble now either he thought about what he should ask before finally relenting as the man patiently waited. Lowsley still fretting in the background.

"Who is this Mr. Malfoy and why do you think he's me?" Might as well start with the identity mix up, perhaps once they realized he wasn't Malfoy they wouldn't assume he understood their other gibberish either.

Sighing as if this is what he had expected but not wanted to hear he glanced back at Lowsley and made a brief gesture before turning back to face Harry. Lowsley immediately nodded, leaving and shutting the door behind him. When Davis began speaking Harry turned back to him, wondering about Lowsley's strange departure. "I know this seems confusing for you young man, but your full name is Aethonan Cepheus Malfoy, I know that this is your identity because I have taken care of you since you were born, here in St. Mungos six years ago. Your family brought you in almost two years ago after a very tragic accident and you have been in a coma since. We thought you a lost cause until miraculously a week ago you began awakening. The memory loss seems to be another negative side-effect of the accident."

"Accident?" Harry interrupted, "What accident?"

Davis frowned at the interruption and shook his head, "I'm afraid I must leave that to your family to explain, it is not my place if you cannot remember."

Harry shifted uncomfortably and asked in a small voice almost inaudible, "Family?"

At the shift in conversation Davis brightened slightly, his stern wrinkled face smoothing slightly with his smile. "Yes, your family who is very excited to see you. Your father Lord Aurelius Malfoy and mother Lady Carina Malfoy, and of course your brother Abraxas."

Harry perked up, in wonder and an anxious kind of hope. This man seemed so sure that he was this Aethonan person, perhaps even if he wasn't this family could accept him and take him away from the Dursleys. "Brother?!"

"Yes, your twin brother to be exact, you two look identical, down to the birthmark on your hipbones." Davis smiled, glad to see the young Malfoy looking less defensive and more interested in their conversation. Some of his reactions were worrying, those of an abused child, not one who had been spending the last two years of his life in a hospital or a well to do family before that. What had happened to the poor boy, while he had been under?

Birthmark? The only mark Harry had ever had was the strange lightning shaped scar on his forehead he had obtained from the car accident. Looking down at his white hospital clothes he pulled up his shirt and pulled the band back, sure enough there was a pale grey mark on his hip. Strange. Frowning and looking back at the amused Warden Davis he politely inquired about a mirror. "Ah yes, the bathroom is right behind the curtain, the white door, why don't you go get yourself cleaned up a bit and when you get back we will check you out and make sure nothing else is wrong."

Slowly getting off the bed and walking around the curtain took more work than Harry had expected, he felt weak as if he had not used his muscles in a very long time, glancing back at Warden Davis, he saw him watching him carefully making sure that he wouldn't fall or injure himself. Once he had made it around the curtain he was surprised to see the room was bigger than he had expected, a brown cushy looking couch sat in one corner next to a pair of dark oak doors. Another side table and matching chair with a small table in between the couch and chair. Spotting the white door, Harry wobbled his way across using the side table and chair to help move himself along a little quicker. He opened the door and walked into the small but nice bathroom and turned to look at the full length mirror he noticed on the door, (he was too small to see the one above the sink. Which was slightly upsetting considering how he had only recently gained height enough to see the one in the Dursley house, why did they make these ones so tall?)

A shocked gasp left him, the face looking back in the mirror was not the one he had seen last, the boy with dark messy hair and green eyes was gone and in his place was a boy with pale blonde hair that lay straight if slightly mussed. His eyes pale blue almost grey were lacking in his pale complexion, which Harry noted was too pale to be healthy. Though it seemed he'd lost his unnatural thinness he was still small and petite, and shorter. Oh dear, Harry was always one of the smallest kids in his class but now he was even shorter! _He screamed._

* * *

AN - Sorry for the late update. My computer died on me, and I've just recently bought a new one.

More of Harry's question will be answered next chapter, and the Malfoy family introduced.


End file.
